Last night the Oscars were on TV. For the first time in a long time, though, I missed them. You know what, I'm OK with that. I'm more than OK...I'm just fine and, dare I say, better off not having watched the Oscars.
There was a time not too long ago where my lovely bride and I were avid movie buffs and Oscar watchers. We would see a movie a week, sometimes two. But, life and mortgages and kids and other expensive expenses have this uncanny way of helping you prioritize how you spend your money. In looking at our paycheck and the myriad ways in which we could deplete said paycheck, other crap won hands down. Well, that and the fact that movies have basically sucked for the past 10 years or so.
I can't really point to one definite time, but, for some reason, about 10 years ago, the films nominated and winning for best picture all of a sudden became so much more independent and controversial and developed a keen ability to just...suck.
That is just one reason why my life just might be a better place without watching all of the Hollywood self, ummm, gratification and back-patting that was last night. I have to admit that Oscar has pissed me off a bit the past two years. Precisely why the h-e-double hockey sticks do we have 10 friggin' movies nominated for best picture? Why?!?!
Even in my heyday of movie watching and Oscar rah-rahing, I could hardly ever think of five movies that were worth a best picture award. Now, the self-lovers in Hollywood have decided to nominate 10 of them. This is getting ridiculous. This is why one of the films nominated this year was also nominated for best animated picture...there just aren't enough "good" movies released every year.
Of course, as with everything I blog about, I'm completely willing to be absolutely wrong...so please don't tell me how wrong I am on this. But, my life has gone on without the Oscars. I hardly missed it and I really don't think I missed much, based on the lack of buzz surrounding the show this year.
Perhaps one day, I'll get back to being an avid movie-goer, but Hollywood needs to start throwing us some bones here. Or just stop being so annoying that we go back to caring again.
